Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Land Rover Defender named top target for car thieves

A theft index shows that high end cars like Land Rovers, Audis and BMWs are more likely to be targeted by thieves than ordinary family saloons, despite having state-of-the-art security.

Nine of the top 10 targets were upmarket marques, with the Renault Laguna the only standard model to make it into the chart, the Mirror reported.

The bestselling Ford Focus came in 46th, while the popular Volkswagen Golf was ranked 24th.

Insurance firm Swiftcover's index gives cars a rating using the number of thefts in proportion to the number of those vehicles on the road.

The average sale price among the top 10 most stolen cars is 37,815 pounds.

The most valuable on the list is the Range Rover, which starts at 69,995 pounds.

Swiftcover's chief claims officer Robin Reames said: "Given that luxury vehicles are usually alarmed, well protected and parked in affluent neighbourhoods, it's surprising that they're still so likely to be targeted."